Article Excerpts About Symptoms of Autism:

Autism Fact Sheet: NINDS (Excerpt)

The hallmark feature of autism is impaired social interaction. Children
with autism may fail to respond to their names and often avoid looking at
other people. They often have difficulty interpreting tone of voice or
facial expressions and do not respond to others' emotions or watch other
people's faces for cues about appropriate behavior. They appear unaware of
others' feelings toward them and of the negative impact of their behavior
on other people.

Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements such as
rocking and hair twirling, or in self-injurious behavior such as biting or
head-banging. They also tend to start speaking later than other children
and may refer to themselves by name instead of "I" or "me." Some speak in
a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little
regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking.

People with autism often have abnormal responses to sounds, touch, or
other sensory stimulation. Many show reduced sensitivity to pain. They
also may be extraordinarily sensitive to other sensations. These unusual
sensitivities may contribute to behavioral symptoms such as resistance to
being cuddled.
(Source: excerpt from Autism Fact Sheet: NINDS)

NINDS Autism Information Page: NINDS (Excerpt)

People with classical autism show three types of symptoms:
impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal
communication, and unusual or severely limited activities and interests.
These symptoms can vary in severity. In addition, people with autism often
have abnormal responses to sounds, touch, or other sensory stimulation.
Symptoms usually appear during the first three years of childhood and
continue through life.
(Source: excerpt from NINDS Autism Information Page: NINDS)

Autism Research: NIMH (Excerpt)

People with autism represent a broad spectrum of impairment, with great
variability in clinical symptoms and levels of functioning. Some people
with autism have normal intelligence and develop good basic language
skills, while others lag intellectually and develop little or no language. (Source: excerpt from Autism Research: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

Children with autism do not follow the typical patterns of child
development. In some children, hints of future problems may be apparent
from birth. In most cases, the problems become more noticeable as the
child slips farther behind other children the same age. Other children
start off well enough. But between 18 and 36 months old, they suddenly
reject people, act strangely, and lose language and social skills they had
already acquired.
(Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

From the start, most infants are social beings. Early in life, they
gaze at people, turn toward voices, endearingly grasp a finger, and even
smile.

In contrast, most children with autism seem to have tremendous
difficulty learning to engage in the give-and-take of everyday human
interaction. Even in the first few months of life, many do not interact
and they avoid eye contact. They seem to prefer being alone. They may
resist attention and affection or passively accept hugs and cuddling.
Later, they seldom seek comfort or respond to anger or affection. Unlike
other children, they rarely become upset when the parent leaves or show
pleasure when the parent returns. Parents who
looked forward to the joys of cuddling, teaching, and playing with their
child may feel crushed by this lack of response.

Children with autism also take longer to learn to interpret what others
are thinking and feeling. Subtle social cues-whether a smile, a wink, or a
grimace-may have little meaning. To a child who misses these cues, "Come
here," always means the same thing, whether the speaker is smiling and
extending her arms for a hug or squinting and planting her fists on her
hips. Without the ability to interpret gestures and facial expressions,
the social world may seem bewildering.

To compound the problem, people with autism have problems seeing things
from another person's perspective. Most 5-year-olds understand that other
people have different information, feelings, and goals than they have. A
person with autism may lack such understanding. This inability leaves them
unable to predict or understand other people's actions.

Some people with autism also tend to be physically aggressive at times,
making social relationships still more difficult. Some lose control,
particularly when they're in a strange or overwhelming environment, or
when angry and frustrated. They are capable at times of breaking things,
attacking others, or harming themselves. Alan, for example, may fall into
a rage, biting and kicking when he is frustrated or angry. Paul, when
tense or overwhelmed, may break a window or throw things. Others are
self-destructive, banging their heads, pulling their hair, or biting their
arms.
(Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

By age 3, most children have passed several predictable milestones on
the path to learning language. One of the earliest is babbling. By the
first birthday, a typical toddler says words, turns when he hears his
name, points when he wants a toy, and when offered something distasteful,
makes it very clear that his answer is no. By age 2, most children begin
to put together sentences like "See doggie," or "More cookie," and can
follow simple directions.

Research shows that about half of the children diagnosed with autism
remain mute throughout their lives. Some infants who later show signs of
autism do coo and babble during the first 6 months of life. But they soon
stop. Although they may learn to communicate using sign language or
special electronic equipment, they may never speak. Others may be delayed,
developing language as late as age 5 to 8.

Those who do speak often use language in unusual ways. Some seem unable
to combine words into meaningful sentences. Some speak only single words.
Others repeat the same phrase no matter what the situation.

Some children with autism are only able to parrot what they hear, a
condition called echolalia. Without persistent training, echoing
other people's phrases may be the only language that people with autism
ever acquire. What they repeat might be a question they were just asked,
or an advertisement on television. Or out of the blue, a child may shout,
"Stay on your own side of the road!"-something he heard his father say
weeks before. Although children without autism go through a stage where
they repeat what they hear, it normally passes by the time they are 3.

People with autism also tend to confuse pronouns. They fail to grasp
that words like "my," "I," and "you," change meaning depending on who is
speaking. When Alan's teacher asks, "What is my name?" he answers, "My
name is Alan."

Some children say the same phrase in a variety of different situations.
One child, for example, says "Get in the car," at random times throughout
the day. While on the surface, her statement seems bizarre, there may be a
meaningful pattern in what the child says. The child may be saying, "Get
in the car," whenever she wants to go outdoors. In her own mind, she's
associated "Get in the car," with leaving the house. Another child, who
says "Milk and cookies" whenever he is pleased, may be associating his
good feelings around this treat with other things that give him pleasure.

It can be equally difficult to understand the body language of a person
with autism. Most of us smile when we talk about things we enjoy, or shrug
when we can't answer a question. But for children with autism, facial
expressions, movements, and gestures rarely match what they are saying.
Their tone of voice also fails to reflect their feelings. A high-pitched,
sing-song, or flat, robot-like voice is common.

Without meaningful gestures or the language to ask for
things, people with autism are at a loss to let others know what they
need. As a result, children with autism may simply scream or grab what
they want. Temple Grandin, an exceptional woman with autism who has
written two books about her disorder, admits, "Not being able to speak was
utter frustration. Screaming was the only way I could communicate." Often
she would logically think to herself, "I am going to scream now because I
want to tell somebody I don't want to do something." Until they are taught
better means of expressing their needs, people with autism do whatever
they can to get through to others. (Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

Although children with autism usually appear physically normal and have
good muscle control, odd repetitive motions may set them off from other
children. A child might spend hours repeatedly flicking or flapping her
fingers or rocking back and forth. Many flail their arms or walk on their
toes. Some suddenly freeze in position. Experts call such behaviors
stereotypies or self-stimulation.

Some people with autism also tend to repeat certain actions over and
over. A child might spend hours lining up pretzel sticks. Or, like Alan,
run from room to room turning lights on and off.

Some children with autism develop troublesome fixations with specific
objects, which can lead to unhealthy or dangerous behaviors. For example,
one child insists on carrying feces from the bathroom into her classroom.
Other behaviors
are simply startling, humorous, or embarrassing to those around them. One
girl, obsessed with digital watches, grabs the arms of strangers to look
at their wrists.

For unexplained reasons, people with autism demand consistency in their
environment. Many insist on eating the same foods, at the same time,
sitting at precisely the same place at the table every day. They may get
furious if a picture is tilted on the wall, or wildly upset if their
toothbrush has been moved even slightly. A minor change in their routine,
like taking a different route to school, may be tremendously upsetting.

Scientists are exploring several possible explanations for such
repetitive, obsessive behavior. Perhaps the order and sameness lends some
stability in a world of sensory confusion. Perhaps focused behaviors help
them to block out painful stimuli. Yet another theory is that these
behaviors are linked to the senses that work well or poorly. A child who
sniffs everything in sight may be using a stable sense of smell to explore
his environment. Or perhaps the reverse is true: he may be trying to
stimulate a sense that is dim.

Imaginative play, too, is limited by these repetitive behaviors and
obsessions. Most children, as early as age 2, use their imagination to
pretend. They create new uses for an object, perhaps using a bowl for a
hat. Or they pretend to be someone else, like a mother cooking dinner for
her "family" of dolls. In contrast, children with autism rarely pretend.
Rather than rocking a doll or rolling a toy car, they may simply hold it,
smell it, or spin it for hours on end.
(Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

When children's perceptions are accurate, they can learn from what they
see, feel, or hear. On the other hand, if sensory information is faulty or
if the input from the various senses fails to merge into a coherent
picture, the child's experiences of the world can be confusing. People
with autism seem to have one or both of these problems. There may be
problems in the sensory signals that reach the brain or in the integration
of the sensory signals-and quite possibly, both.

Apparently, as a result of a brain malfunction, many children with
autism are highly attuned or even painfully sensitive to certain sounds,
textures, tastes, and smells. Some children find the feel of clothes
touching their skin so disturbing that they can't focus on anything else.
For others, a gentle hug may be overwhelming. Some children cover their
ears and scream at the sound of a vacuum cleaner, a distant airplane, a
telephone ring, or even the wind. Temple Grandin says, "It was like having
a hearing aid that picks up
everything, with the volume control stuck on super loud." Because any
noise was so painful, she often chose to withdraw and tuned out sounds to
the point of seeming deaf.

In autism, the brain also seems unable to balance the senses
appropriately. Some children with autism seem oblivious to extreme cold or
pain, but react hysterically to things that wouldn't bother other
children. A child with autism may break her arm in a fall and never cry.
Another child might bash his head on the wall without a wince. On the
other hand, a light touch may make the child scream with alarm.

In some people, the senses are even scrambled. One child gags when she
feels a certain texture. A man with autism hears a sound when someone
touches a point on his chin. Another experiences certain sounds as colors.
(Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism: NIMH (Excerpt)

Some people with autism display remarkable abilities. A few demonstrate
skills far out of the ordinary. At a young age, when other children are
drawing straight lines and scribbling, some children with autism are able
to draw detailed, realistic pictures in three-dimensional perspective.
Some toddlers who are autistic are so visually skilled that they can put
complex jigsaw puzzles together. Many begin to read exceptionally
early-sometimes even before they begin to speak. Some who have a keenly
developed sense of hearing can play musical instruments they have never
been taught, play a song accurately after hearing it once, or name any
note they hear. Like the person played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie
Rain Man, some people with autism can memorize entire television
shows, pages of the phone book, or the scores of every major league
baseball game for the past 20 years. However, such skills, known as
islets of intelligence or savant skills are rare.
(Source: excerpt from Autism: NIMH)

Autism as a Cause of Symptoms or Medical Conditions

When considering symptoms of Autism, it is also important to consider Autism as a possible cause of other medical conditions.
The Disease Database lists the following medical conditions that Autism may cause:

About signs and symptoms of Autism:

The symptom information on this page
attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Autism.
This signs and symptoms information for Autism has been gathered from various sources,
may not be fully accurate,
and may not be the full list of Autism signs or Autism symptoms.
Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Autism may vary on an individual basis for each patient.
Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they
are indeed Autism symptoms.

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use. Information provided on this site is for informational purposes only; it is not intended as a substitute for advice from your own medical team. The information on this site is not to be used for diagnosing or treating any health concerns you may have - please contact your physician or health care professional for all your medical needs. Please see our Terms of Use.